[Nfbv-announce] FW: Informational Picketing New York City, April 7 2009

[Fredric Schroeder]

Hi folks,
 
We need to spread the word about the picketing discussed below.  Please do
what you can to get as many of our folks to New York as we can.
 
FKS
 
 

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From: LPovinelli at aol.com [mailto:LPovinelli at aol.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:28 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Informational Picketing New York City, April 7 2009


>From Chris Danielson:  

Dear Fellow Federationists:

As you may already know, Amazon, Inc. released the newest version of its
e-book reader, the Kindle, on February 9 of this year.  The Kindle 2
includes a feature that allows e-books downloaded to it to be read aloud.
The Authors Guild has objected to this feature because it believes these
e-books are licensed only for visual display, and under pressure from the
Guild, Amazon has decided to allow authors and publishers to decide which
books can be read aloud by this device.  Naturally, this is a blow to blind
people and others with print disabilities who can benefit from the
text-to-speech feature and who would love to be able to purchase books and
start reading them immediately for the first time in history.  For this
reason the National Federation of the Blind has joined with other
organizations representing people who cannot use print effectively to fight
the Authors Guild.

We plan to kick off our public education campaign to increase public
pressure on the Authors Guild to reverse its stance with an informational
protest in front of the Guild’s headquarters in New York City.  This picket
will take place on Tuesday, April 7, from noon until 2:00 p.m.  I am writing
to you in hopes that you can organize members to come to this protest.  A
number of Federationists from Maryland are coming and we expect
participation from other organizations in the coalition, but it would be
very helpful if those of you with easy access to New York City would help us
by providing more picketers.  It is extremely important that we make a
strong impression on the Authors Guild and the media so that our message
will be heard.

In the next few days you will receive more communications with additional
logistical details, as well as more information about our position and
suggestions on how to respond to questions from the media.  In the meantime,
if you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  As
soon as you have an idea of how many people may be able to come to this
event, please provide that information to John Paré by calling 410-659-9314,
ext. 2227, or by e-mailing jpare at nfb.org.  Thank you for your assistance in
this important matter.



Sincerely:

Chris Danielsen



Christopher S. Danielsen 

Director of Public Relations 

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

NOTE:  We are told that if there are Virginians who wish to go to new york
for this event and want a seat on the bus, contact  Ann-Marie Laney at
alaney at nfb.org



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